Gone Is Our Paradise
by darlin' canary
Summary: After days of struggle and multiple losses Ava Collins started to believe that it was not possible for her and her friends to make it out this alive. Her and the other survivors from the University of South Carolina had set out on a dangerous journey in hopes of discovering something better. What she found was not something she could have expected to find amidst this Hell on Earth.


_A/N: _Alright, I know I have two other stories that I haven't updated in a long time and to be honest I don't know when I will get around to doing that. I just haven't been inspired to write for them. Though hopefully that will happen. Here is something that I am quite excited about though, and I hope that you'll all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. This is going to be a bit AU, obviously since I am adding a few more characters into the mix, but I plan on following the show's plot as much as I can when I get to it. The first bit of this going to be set up for my original characters, just keep that in mind.

* * *

_**The Walking Dead: Gone Is Our Paradise  
**_**Prologue**

_Day +14_  
_University of South Carolina_  
_Columbia, South Carolina_

The feeling of relief quickly overtook Ava's senses as she fell through the now open door to her hands and her knees. After hearing the door lock behind her she finally allowed herself to calm her rapid breathing; a few minutes more and Ava would have been in the midst of a horrid and more than likely to be fatal panic attack. Two other people moved to barricade the door once more for added reinforcement using a large desk and a couple of chairs. Aside from the scrapping of the wood against the linoleum floors the room had become as silent as a grave — which given the current set of circumstances was a description Ava felt would be more befitting of a sick joke.

Ava then made a quick motion with her hands signalling for them all to get down. Within seconds everyone had manoeuvred themselves to the ground and as close to the wall of the door as possible, all the while trying to remain as soundless as they could. After ten days they all knew the drill, staying quiet and out of sight kept you alive, and even though the door was blocked it still held a thin window with a few small breaks from the chairs propped against it that allowed some visibility. Comfort was not a luxury they had anymore as there was no room for anyone to take chances, so even though they had a whole room before them, the group of eight stayed huddled together, practically on top of one and other in the small space that was available. A few people held their breath as the sound of shuffling feet and multiple groans had become almost deafening to their ears. Ava shut her eyes to try and keep her breathing steady when a banging on the door started. She knew one had been closely following her and must have seen her enter the classroom if not at the very least heard the bit of noise created when the desk had been moved.

No one was sure how much time had passed since the banging had started, or how long it took for Ava and the rest to realize that it had stopped, but eventually the group untangled themselves. They didn't stray too far from the wall, or each other, but for the moment they at least had a bit of room to breathe.

Scott, who Ava had learned was the star pitcher for the university's varsity baseball team, cleared his throat before he turned his attention to her. "It's worse out there, isn't it?" She nodded in response. The athletic male sighed before he ran a hand over his face in frustration. "You weren't able to grab anything, were you?"

She cast her eyes downward and focused on a spot on the floor before she shook her head 'no'.

"_Fuck_."

"I couldn't even make it anywhere near the cafeteria this time."

"Did you try taking another route, because you can get over to the cafeteria by also passing through-" A mousy looking girl, Katherine, whose glasses only had one good lens now tried to offer but Ava cut her off.

"There was no clear way of getting there, I tried. Every which way I went there was always at least three of them, then I turned around and out of nowhere there was a whole whack of them."

"Well, what the hell do we do now?" Cameron, one of Scott's fellow teammates demanded. "I mean, the whole reason you went out there is because we have enough food to last us one more day. If we can't get anymore we're going to-"

"Starve." A few others whispered, finishing Cameron's thought.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you. You're welcome to go out there and try yourself, but like I said every direction is blocked by more of those _things_."

Ava's words hung in the air as everyone drifted in thought. The thought of not sharing the same agonizing death as most of their friends had, but instead being left helpless and starved in what used to be the economics class. She couldn't decide what was worse.

**_..._**

_Day +17_  
_University of South Carolina_  
_Columbia, South Carolina_

She was starting to feel weak and it had only been two days.

"They've been gone a long time." Katherine noted quietly as she remained seated beside Ava against the wall. The two girls, like the others were waiting for Scott and Cameron to return and hopefully bring a bit more food with them. Even if it happened to be junk from a random vending machine they could potentially stumble across.

She nodded her head, "Yeah they have, but they'll come back to us. After all I was gone awhile the other day too and I came back. We just have to be more careful now, so that means it's going to take longer whenever someone goes out there."

"You are pretty brave." She admired with a solemn expression on her face. "I wish I was brave."

Ava grabbed Katherine's hand and gave it a light squeeze. "You are brave, the fact that you're still here with us is proof to any one of that."

"But you've gone out there to get us food more than once, you could've died doing that but you did so anyway. I-I could never do something like that."

"Maybe not yet, but you will."

"How do you know?"

Ava sighed before closing her eyes, letting images from the first few days flash before her eyes. Seeing her best friend get dragged away before a monster tore into her, narrowly getting away from another one that tried to corner her, how her body was shaking and the only thing that kept her going was the adrenaline. "Because I felt the same way." She opened her eyes and let a small, rueful smile grace her lips at what came next. "Scott and Cameron had to persuade me to get out from under the table where I had been hiding. I was crying hysterically and it took longer than either of them liked, then after all that I had to hang on to Scott's hand for dear life. The two of them had not been very impressed with me to start, I still don't think Cameron is."

"What changed?"

"The four of us, we had just found Cole by this point, came across about five of them gathered together. They were completely oblivious to the fact that we had just stumbled across them, their attention had been focused on a TV that had been left on — it was some global newscast that had been blaring. We went back around the corner we had come from and the three of them were trying to figure out what we were going to do, if there was another way for us to go or not. I knew we all needed to get by them, it was the only way we could go where we had a hope of finding somewhere safe on campus… I just went for it. The guys ended up following my lead but we did end up attracting that unwanted attention. For a second I thought I screwed it all up for us, but we were able to get away.

When the time comes you will know what you're capable of and you will just act, it doesn't mean that you're any less scared when you do, you just won't be able think about it. The thought of going out there still makes me anxious, after everything we've already seen how could it not? I just know that sometimes I have to, and I think to myself I used to run track so I can run away from them, I can do this."

Katherine stayed quiet for a few seconds after nodding her head slightly. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times with a puzzled look on her face before she settled on squeezing Ava's hand and resting her head on her shoulder. "Thank you."

Knocking came from the door and Ava watched as the others scrambled to get the desk and the chairs out of the way. Once the door was opened Scott and Cameron came through looking worse than they did before they left in search of a new path to the cafeteria. After getting a good look at them, noticing one of the 'In Case of Emergency Only' axes gripped tightly in Scott's hand and the blood that covered them both, Ava stood pulling Katherine up with her.

"What's going on? What happened?" Ava asked apprehensively.

"We need to leave here, _now_."


End file.
